The ROWANMORE arrived in the River Blackwater June 1962 from Cuba, having been trading between Russia and Cuba.
Brian Chaplin from Layer was one of the crew who paid off in Maldon.
Brian says "She carried raw sugar from Cuba to Russia and a multitude of cargoes from Russia to Cuba. One trip, from Russia the last cargo to be loaded were railway sleepers as deck cargo almost loaded to the bridge which made for a very "hairy" Atlantic crossing. On our last trip from Russia we carried army trucks painted drab olive as deck cargo, they were listed on the manifest as agricultural equipement (true)
but nothing to my knowledge anything more sinister than that.
At this time, the Cuban Missile crisis was brewing...

Above: Dramatic Answer to Mersea ship's signal. Children see helicopter's mercy dash. [ 23 January 1963 ]
A dramatic answer to a distress signal flying from one of the laid-up ships in the frozen Blackwater on Wednesday was made by an RAF helicopter from Manston, Kent.
The nine flag international code message from the yardarm of s.s. ROWANMORE asked for help, full details of which were not given.
The ship's agents Clarke and Carter Ltd., of West Mersea, were contacted and they ... Date: c25 January 1963.Source: Mersea Museum / Peter Rudlin Collection